Friday, August 8, 2008

Digressing a little, before leaving on our Ottawa trip; daughter, Alberta friend and I headed out to St. Martin's for a little cave exploring. Although the girls could access the bigger cave when we first arrived the tide rose quickly and before we left the area, that cave was no longer accessible by the beach. Exploring was cut short when threatening storm clouds dumped rain on us.

St. Marten's caves. This picture was taken while walking back to the car. The big cave is not accessible any longer; but it sure was a magnet for the girls to explore when we first arrived.

See the biggest cave in the above photo? Here is a closer shot of it.

The tiny white blur in the very back is actually either daughter or her friend; the 2 individuals standing are other tourists to the area. The girls are way, WAY back. You can see both of them crammed into the back crevisse.

Even my dog didn't want to go in the very back. It felt claustrophobic and I was nervous about the girls being wedged into the rocks so once I took this photo I asked them to remove themselves from the ledge. It was cold in here and clammy from the salt water.

Here daughter and friend left the cave and moving closer to shore, explored an indent in the red rock layer.

The rock slivered off the ceiling and wall easily and crumpled in their hands. So of course I was nervous again and hovered until they left this shallow cave.

It didn't reassure me at all when they started to climb up the rocky slope. I could see evidence of rock slides and mini-avalanches all along this area and nervously voiced my concerns about how they would get down if indeed, they succeeded in climbing to the top. Good sense prevailed and they slipped and slid back down.

That didn't deter them for long. Daughter found yet another cramped space to squeeze into and scrape away at, while Alberta friend tapped on the wedged rocks.

All the green algae/seaweed that you see in these photos is VERY slippery, making any trek treacherous. Daughter demonstrates another use for the green slime however; and molds her feet into a mermaid-type creature.

After this the weather turned and we made our way back to the vehicle. Before leaving St. Marten's however, daughter spotted an old church advertising a book sale. What luck! Who could resist?! We found good reads and hard-to-find sequels among the displays.